I recently received an excellent question: Which of my ice cream recipes are gluten-free?
I am not super-familiar with strict gluten requirements--much of this will depend upon how sensitive an individual is to gluten. Many foods may have been exposed to gluten during manufacturing, so when in doubt, ask the company. For example, you might need to check if your preferred brand of chocolate chips or vanilla extract is totally gluten-free. Companies are usually good about responding to consumer questions (and they might already have a FAQ on their website). Also, the more companies hear that there is a demand for gluten-free products, the more likely they are to produce them! (Same goes for vegan products--so make your voices heard!)
In general, most of my recipes are gluten-free if your non-dairy milk is totally gluten-free--and it probably is. My recipes tend to follow this formula:
non-dairy milk + sugar + flavor base (fruit, extracts, spices, etc.) + arrowroot = ice cream
So usually you're in the clear. And some of the recipes that would otherwise contain gluten can be made gluten-free if you make simple substitutions. For example, if you use gluten-free cookie dough in the Cookie Dough Ice Cream recipe, even if other people would use a wheat-based dough.
However, if you are in doubt, play it safe and pick another recipe that you know you can enjoy. If you have questions about a particular ingredient (or gluten-free diets in general), this is an excellent resource. They've got lists of safe and unsafe ingredients, info about particular companies, and much more.
If any of my readers have tips or gluten-free vegan recipes to share, I'd love to hear from you in the comments. Anyone got a great GF brownie recipe? Cookies? Got a GF vegan blog? Inquiring minds want to know.
